ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Coming off a successful 2014-15 regular season, but a disappointing performance at the 2015 Mountain West Championships, the University of New Mexico swimming and diving program has a lot to be excited about in the upcoming season.
The Lobos are a young squad with just three seniors, five juniors and 16 underclassmen, which includes nine freshmen, but UNM does return its three All-Conference performers from last year: junior Kaela McKee (back), junior Anna Lengyel (fly) and sophomore Morgan Ginnis (free).
Head Coach Kunio Kono believes he has plenty of other returning talent to be competitive all season.
“Two of our captains will help lead us,” he said. “Senior Kristin Walker and junior Abigail Wheeler will be really good every day and scoring a lot of points all season.”
That season begins this week with a tough three-meet trip through Colorado. The Lobos begin at Colorado State on Thursday, head south to Air Force on Friday, and on Saturday they conclude with the University of Denver’s relay meet.
“I think it’s going to be a tough weekend,” Kono said. “Colorado State and Air Force are both really well-coached teams, and they have good freshmen. We could be in for a challenge.”
Still, Kono likes his chances and has plenty of incoming talent of his own.
“We have Mareike Foister, a breast stroker from Germany, and I think she’s going to have a great showing this weekend,” he said. “Also, Emily Huffer from Arizona and Carol De Groote Tavares from Brazil should both be really good this weekend too.”
Following that stretch they will have two weeks to prepare for their first home meet, which is versus Wyoming on Oct. 24. Their second and final home meet of the fall portion of their schedule is the following Saturday against Northern Colorado.
After that UNM will head to California to face off against 2014-15 Mountain West Champion San Diego State as well as Washington State, which finished eighth in the Pac-12 last year.
“Our team is looking good heading into the season,” said Kono. “We have a couple of injuries and a couple sick people, so we’ll be a thin team this weekend. But we’re training hard, and if we keep working together then we’ll be successful.”
The final event of the fall season will be the US Winter Nationals for swimmers in Federal Way, Washington, from Dec. 2-5. Following the winter break, the Lobos will travel to Northern Arizona on Jan. 23, and then host Rio Grande Rival New Mexico State in their final home meet of the season on Saturday, Jan. 30.
The final event of the regular season will be the Air Force Diving Invite Feb. 5-6, which is two weeks before the Mountain West Championships. Those will take place in College Station, Texas, this year, from Feb. 17-20.
The NCAA Zone E Diving Championships take place in Flagstaff, Ariz., March 7-9, and the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Atlanta, are March 17-19.